Stress, eating and weight change in first year students: the moderating role of self-compassion

Abstract

Objective

The current study sought to examine the drivers of weight change in first-year university students. The study examined the moderating role of self-compassion in the relationship between stress, eating and weight change. Specifically, we expected that students low in self-compassion would respond to stress with unhealthy eating resulting in weight gain. We expected students high in self-compassion to be buffered from the negative effects of stress (moderated mediation model).

Methods

First-year university students in New Zealand (N = 136) completed measures of healthy and unhealthy food intake and BMI at the beginning and end of the academic year. Self-compassion was measured at baseline only, and perceived stress was averaged over four time points across the year.

Results

Students gained a significant 1.45 kg (SD 3.67 kg) of body weight. Self-compassion moderated the relationship between stress and changes in: (a) unhealthy (but not healthy) food intake, and (b) body weight. For those with low self-compassion, perceived stress was significantly related to an increase in BMI and, unexpectedly, to a decrease in unhealthy food intake. Changes in food intake did not explain changes in BMI.

Conclusion

Wellbeing interventions for university students to reduce negative effects of stress should incorporate concurrent training in self-compassion.

Keywords:

• Self-compassion
• stress
• eating
• weight change
• freshman
• university

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.